Sheets Smith Investment Management Sells 4,004 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Sheets Smith Investment Management sold 4,004 shares of Fortinet, reducing its holdings by 25.3% to a total of 11,816 shares, making it the firm's 25th biggest holding.
• Fortinet reported $1.63 billion in revenue for the last quarter, beating analysts' expectations, and achieving a 30.60% net margin with an EPS of $0.64 compared to the consensus estimate of $0.59.
• Insider trading revealed that Fortinet's CEO sold 158,486 shares recently, while institutional investors now own approximately 83.71% of the company's stock.

Sheets Smith Investment Management decreased its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 25.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,816 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 4,004 shares during the quarter. Fortinet comprises approximately 1.1% of Sheets Smith Investment Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Sheets Smith Investment Management's holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 24.1% during the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 8,805 shares of the software maker's stock worth $848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 11.7% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 79,129 shares of the software maker's stock worth $7,617,000 after purchasing an additional 8,292 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 24.4% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 461,523 shares of the software maker's stock worth $44,552,000 after purchasing an additional 90,456 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter worth $14,627,000. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter worth $4,804,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $80.89 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $90.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.98 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.12.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. DZ Bank raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortinet Company Profile

Fortinet, Inc provides cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions worldwide. It offers secure networking solutions focus on the convergence of networking and security; network firewall solutions that consist of FortiGate data centers, hyperscale, and distributed firewalls, as well as encrypted applications; wireless LAN solutions; and secure connectivity solutions, including FortiSwitch secure ethernet switches, FortiAP wireless local area network access points, FortiExtender 5G connectivity gateways, and other products.

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